European support will ensure that Ukraine stays in the fight, but the United States’ pause on aid to Ukraine will end access to several key weapons platforms.
Ukraine is set to lose access to a suite of high-tech weaponry and other equipment following a pause on all U.S. aid to the embattled nation.
U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly paused assistance to Ukraine on March 4, following a highly publicized spat with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week over the terms of a possible cease-fire deal.
That pause affects every dollar of assistance from the Pentagon, including intelligence sharing and other non-weapon aid, according to a U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) official.
“At 6 p.m. last night, the order to pause all aid for Ukraine was given to the DOD, including aid that was en route,” the official told The Epoch Times in an email on March 4.
In the aftermath, national leaders throughout Europe have leapt to action in cobbling together a nascent plan to turbocharge European defense spending by roughly $840 billion.
“We are in an era of rearmament, and Europe is ready to massively increase its spending, both to respond to the short-term urgency to act and to support Ukraine, but also to invest in the long term, to take on more responsibility for our own European security,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
It is unclear how soon Ukraine will begin to feel the battlefield effect of the U.S. aid pause. Ukraine is not as dependent on the United States as it was at the beginning of the war, but it still relies on Washington for several vital weapons systems.
Zelenskyy wrote on social media platform X that Ukraine remained committed to pursuing a just and lasting peace, and outlined a path toward a peace agreement with Russia including prisoner exchanges and halts to air and sea attacks.
“None of us wants an endless war,” Zelenskyy wrote. “Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians.”
Zelenskyy added later in the day that he had spoken with leadership from Croatia, Finland, Germany, Greece, the UK, and NATO, and that Ukraine would be receiving additional air defense systems and missiles from the European Commission.
